Tornado Just Misses Infirmary Federal Credit Union in Mobile, Alabama

Keith McKinley, CEO/president of the $14 million Infirmary Federal Credit Union, said the tornado that hit Mobile, Ala., on Christmas Day missed the credit union’s Spring Hill Avenue branch by about 50 to 75 yards.

“It (tornado) took a northeast track and we just happened to be a little south of that track, so we are very fortunate,” McKinley said Wednesday. “Spring Hill Avenue is a main road into downtown Mobile and about three or four blocks are not accessible at this time. Across the street there are windows blown out in buildings and there are trees down.”

Power was restored to the area at about 5 a.m., McKinley said, and the credit union’s branches, online service and ATMs are up and running.

Infirmary FCU has a branch in the Mobile Infirmary Medical Center, where the tornado caused window, ceiling and structural damage at the back of the hospital. There were no reports of injuries to patients or staff employees, and the hospital is operating, according to Alabama.com, a local news site.

“Security in the hospital informed us that our alarm system was not going off, therefore we know we didn’t have any broken glass,” McKinley said. “We were very, very fortunate.”

Infirmary FCU’s 13 employees also were not affected by the tornado.

Wednesday’s storm was part of a weather system that has been generating heavy snowfall and blizzard conditions across much of the Midwest and Northeast and severe storms along the Gulf Coast and into the Mid-Atlantic.